As to whether traditional carriers will eventually build out their own IP networks remains to be seen.
"There are some carriers that may never build their own networks, because it's just not cost effective, especially in the long-distance area," Bogen said. "For them to replicate that long-distance network would be very expensive."
Raindance Communications Inc., which sells web conferencing services, was the first announced customer for Level 3's toll-free service. The Louisville, Colo., company said incorporating Level 3's VoIP platform into its products reduces customers' telephony costs by enabling them to dial a local number to gain access into any conference call, regardless of the user's location.
"We've spent the past year working side-by-side with Level 3 so that we can provide our customers a VoIP conferencing solution with quality that is indistinguishable from typical PSTN (public switched telephone network) conferencing," Todd Vernon, Raindance's chief technology officer, said in a separate announcement.
Raindance's new VoIP conferencing platform is expected to be available this quarter.
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